Rail-handling apparatus.



Patented Apr. 7, 1914,

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B. F. BROWN.

RAIL HANDLING APPARATUS.

1,092,630. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 7, 19-13. Pat t d Ap 7,

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* A gr R awue'ntoz B. F. BROWN.

RAIL HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED IE3. 7, 191a.

Patented Apr. 7, 191i 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' E wueutoz COLUMBIA PLANoanAPH 0.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

BENJAMIN F. BROWN, OF WOODSVILLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

RAIL-HANDLING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Application filed February 7, 1913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, BENJAMIN F. BROWN, citizen of the United States, residing at VVoodsville, in the county of Grafton and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RaiLHandling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for loading rails onto a car, or unloading rails from a car into a storage yard or at the place where they are to be inserted in a track, and has special reference to apparatus of the character disclosed in Letters-Patent No. 907,455, granted to me December 22, 1908.

The object of the present invention is to improve and simplify the construction and arrangement of the parts and increase the capacity of the apparatus.

The present invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter first fully described, the novel features of the invention being subsequently pointed out in the claims following the description.

In the drawings: Figure l is an elevation of my improved apparatus; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same on a somewhat larger scale; Fig. 3 is a plan View of the lower portion of the apparatus; Fig. 4 is an end view of the car upon which the operating parts are mounted; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective of the pivot post upon which the boom is mounted; Fig. 6 is a detail perspective of the pedestal; Fig. 7 is a detail perspective of the pawls for holding the adj usting drum in a set position.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a car having a flat bottom 1 upon which is erected a frame consisting of posts or stand-' ards 2 and beams 3 connecting the same. A roof 4 is secured upon this frame, and an anchor plate 5 is rigidly secured upon the roof at the center of the same, the said anchor plate being provided with a longitudinal series of transverse openings 6, the purpose of which will presently appear.

The framework consisting of the posts or standards 2 and the beams '3connecting the same may be left open, as illustrated in the drawings, or may be inclosed so as to protect the operator from the weather, if sodesired. The end standards or posts 2 are spaced from the ends of the car, and the rail handling mechanism is duplicated at which a guide pulley 11 is journaled. The

post 8 is braced laterally by ribs 12, and diverging ribs or wings 13 extend rearwardly from the sides of the post, the said ribs being provided with openings 14 so as to avoid unnecessary weight, and sills 15 being thereby provided upon which is j ournaled and supported the adjusting drum 16. The post 8 is provided at its upper end with an outwardly-extending or overhanging projection 17 to impart additional strength to the post and the upper end of the passage 9 is enlarged to form a socket which receives the pintle 18 at the lower end of a bearing post 19 which has its upper end journaled in a suitable bearing formed in a brace, or beam 20 extending from the roof of the car. This bearing post 19 is slotted or forked, as indicated at 21, and in the said slotted or forked portion of the bearing post is mounted a guide pulley 22, the axle or pivot of said pulley being received in lugs 23. Below the said guide pulley a boom 24 is pivotally secured to the bearing post between ears 25 so as to swing in a vertical plane, and at the outer end of the boom is :provided a casing 26 containing a guide pulley over which a hauling cable 27 passes. The cable 27 is provided at its free end with a grapple or other load engaging device 28 and passes over the pulley within the casing 26, thence to and over the pulley 22 and thence downwardly through the passage 21 in the post 19 and the passage 9 in the pedestal to and under the pulley 11, and thence to a pulley 29, after which it returns to the adjusting drum 16 to which it is secured. The said pulley 29 is mounted in a suitable bearing at the outer end of the piston rod 30 extending through the end of a cylinder 31 in which the piston head plays. The cylinder 31 is secured in any convenient manner upon the bottom of the car and is disposed preferably at a slight angle to the longitudinal axis of the car, a cylinder of greater capacity beingthus made available.

The cylinder is connected through a suitable pipe indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3 with an air tank 32 on the bottom of the car which receives air under pressure from the ordinary train pipe. The communication between the tank and the cylinder is controlled by a two-way valve of any ordinary construction indicated at 33 and manipulated by a. lever 34 fulcrumed upon the floor of the car adjacent the cylinder and connected with the valve by a link 35. The outer end of the piston rod 30 is provided with a crosshead or guides 36 which are adapted to move in ways 37 provided upon the floor of the car so that the movement of the piston and the pulley will be smooth and even.

In the drawings I have illustrated the hauling cable 27 as passing around the pulley 29 at the end of the piston 30 and then extending outwardly to the adjusting drum 16. Upon the end posts 2 at the opposite sides of the car I secure the standards or supports 38 to which the lower ends of braces 39 are adjustably attached. These braces 39 converge upwardly toward the central plane of the car and their upper meeting ends are secured to similar braces 40 which are secured to and converge upwardly from posts or standards 41 erected upon the bottom of the car at the corners of the same. These braces 39 and 40 have a cap plate 42 mounted upon their upper ends, and a guy or strain rod 43 is secured to said cap plate and extends to the anchor plate 5 and has its inner end held by any convenient fastening device inserted in one of the openings 6 in the said anchor plate. The posts or supports 38 and 41 are preferably channel irons so as to obtain the necessary strength without excessive weight, and the posts 41 are reinforced by gussets or angle plates 44 secured to the lower portions of said posts and to the bottom of the car around the side and end of the same, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 4. A pulley 45 is carried by the cap plate 42, and an adjusting cable 46 is trained around said pulley and a pulley 47 carried by the outer end of the boom 24, the free end of said cable 46 being secured to and around a cleat 48- secured upon the bearing post 19 at the upper portion of the same.

The adjusting drum 16 is equipped with ratchets 49 at its ends and these rat-chets are engaged by pawls 50 to hold the drum in a set position, the pawls being fixed upon a rod or shaft 51 which is j ournaled in bear- 1 ings 52 provided therefor on the wings 13 of a greater or less length of the cable is wound on the drum.

It will be readily understood fronr the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings'that by my present improvements I have provided a very simply constructed and arranged ap paratus by which an increased travel of the piston may be obtained, andconsequently a greater range of movement of the boom and the grapple or similar device carried by the same elfected. Longer rails and heavier loads may be thereby handled.

It will be readily understood that by setting the braces 39 and 40 at a higheror lower point and properly adjusting the cable 46 and the guy rod 43, the outer end of the boom '24 may be set at any desired height,

thereby giving the hoisting cable clearance for a higher or lower car. The boom may be swung easily to either side, owing to its being mounted upon the swivel or hearing post 19 which is journaledto swing about a vertical axis, and the load will be raised or lowered by letting air into the cylinder or releasing it therefrom so that the piston will be caused to travel longitudinally of the cylinder and thereby caused to pull upon or let out the hauling cable. It will be noted that the cylinders extend in opposite directions from the transverse center of the ear and the levers by which the air controlling valves are manipulated are disposed at the center of the car so that a. single'operator may control the hoisting cables at both ends of the car. It will also be noted that the outer ends of the ways in which the piston rod is guided are substantially in the longitudinal axis of the car so that the hoisting cable will not wear unduly against the sides of the guide pulleys when the piston rod is out to its greatest extent. As the piston rod moves inwardly inhauling upon the cable, the length of the. cable between the pulleys increases so that the wear upon the cable due to the angular relation of the pulleys will not be excessive.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: i V Y 1. In a rail-handling apparatus, the combination with a support, of a pedestal mounted thereon and comprising a central hollow standard and ribs diverging inwardly fromand rigid with saidstandard, a drum supported; by said ribs, other ribs diverging laterally from the sides .of the standard, a guide pulley in the lower endlof hoisting cable carried by the boom and ex tending downwardly through the standard and around the said pulley and secured to said drum.

2. In a rail-handling apparatus, the combination with a support, of a pedestal secured upon the same and comprising a standard provided with a vertical passage and having a vertical slot in its lower end and wings rigid with and diverging from said standard, some of said ribs extending inwardly from the upper end of the standard and other ribs extending laterally from the sides of the standard, a boom rotatably mounted upon the upper end of the pedestal, a guide pulley mounted in the slot in the lower end of the standard, a hauling cable supported by the boom and passing through the vertical passage in the upper end of the standard and around the pulley at the lower end of the standard, a drum mounted on said wings, means for rotating the drum, and means acting on the cable between the drum and the standard to raise or lower a load.

8. I11 a rail-handling apparatus, the combination with a supporting frame, of a pedestal thereon, said pedestal comprising a standard having a slot in its lower end and a vertical passage in its upper end and wings diverging from said standard, a guide pulley mounted in the slot in the lower end of said standard, a bearing post having its lower end journaled in the upper end of said standard and its upper end journaled in the upper portion of the support, a boom pivoted to said bearing post near the lower end thereof, a guide roller carried by the said post above the pivoted end of the boom, a cable supported by the boom passing over the guide pulley on the bearing post and under the guide pulley on the pedestal, means on the wings to secure the end of the cable, and operating means connected with said cable.

l. I11 a rail-handling apparatus, the combination with a support, of standards erected thereon at the corners of the same, other standards erected thereon at the sides thereof and spaced from the first-mentioned standards, braces adjustably secured to the several standards and converging upwardly therefrom, a pedestal secured upon the support at the end of the same, a bearing post swiveled in said pedestal and in the top of the support, a boom carried by said bearing post, a hauling cable supported by the boom and the pedestal, operating means connected with said cable, and an adjusting cable eX- tending between the outer end of the boom and the upper ends of the converging braces and having a portion depending from the upper ends of the braces and secured to the bearing post.

5. In a rail-handling apparatus, the combination of a support, a pedestal thereon comprising a base to be secured to the support, a hollow standard rising centrally from the outer edge of said base and wings diverging laterally and inwardly from the upper end of the standard to the base, a drum supported by said wings, a bearing post having its lower end journaled in the upper end of the standard and its upper end journaled in the support, a boom pivoted to said bearing post, a pulley in said post above the boom, a support for the outer end of the boom connected to said post, and a cable carried by the outer end of the boom and passing over said pulley, then downwardly through the standard and thence to the drum.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. BROWN. [1,. s.]

Witnesses:

J. H. FULLERTON, HENRY E. LUTHER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

